Bryan picked up the phone. He saw that her ID was still on his screen. Could it be that his wife was really calling? Picking up the phone eagerly, he placed it on his left ear, "Hello, Claire?" He called out. There was static noise for a few minutes and then a masculine voice same over the receiver's end, "Hello," it said. Bryan was so shocked that he didn't speak for her next few seconds. "Claire?" He asked and the masculine voice asked who he was. Shortly, the line died again. "Did anyone else hear that?" Bryan asked and looked about the room, hoping that some of the men who were hovering around him must have picked something up. But one night they shook their heads, "We couldn't hear anything, the receiver's volume was really low," one of them replied. Bryan decided to call back again. "I want to place this call on record, I think someone is with her phone," he said and changed the setting to auto record before dialing her number again. But when the call was answered this time
The next day, it was barely noon and Bryan had already gone to the police stations to file for a missing person. He didn't know when to stop. The first station that he went to was out of the city and the other two he did out of panic. None of them had anything valuable to say to him. One of the officers had even asked if they had a fight or if he had cheated on her. "That's one of the common reasons wives run from their husbands," he shrugged. Bryan was pissed but the man was just doing his job and frankly, he'd seen a lot of bad things in his years of working. Dropping her photograph and the last location she was in, he quietly left the place, still boiling with rage. After being on a brief call with Benjamin who assured him that everyone was working on it as they spoke. He had sent out his best men to look over the entire place and make sure there was nothing left unnoticed. Bryan sat in a large chair in the suite that she had been staying in. He was still at the safe house that
It wasn't long before his coffee arrived and he took the mug from the platter before the lady even put it down. He thanked her as she dropped the pancake on the table but he had no intention of tasting it. Benjamin had just told him something that he didn't want to hear. His wife was doing something behind his back and it was most unpleasant. Who could she possibly be making the transactions with? And what on earth was it for? These were some of the questions that passed through Bryan's mind as he continued to pace. A few minutes later, his phone rang again and this time, he wasn't so eager to look at the caller ID. Something inside him told him already that he wouldn't be so lucky. Right on the screen was his mother-in-law's name. He hadn't seen a call from her in such a long time and the only time that they had to throw words and be rude and mean to each other was when circumstances like what happened the previous day somehow put them in the same room. He had no business calling
The Oscar family gathering was as tense as it had always been. Bryan walked into a room full of men and women who wore pretense like a second skin. No one wanted to be lesser than the other and although the family took pride in hierarchy and orderliness, there was much more competition than Bryan had ever seen anywhere - even in the military. As he walked into the room, he heard one of Claire's aunts whisper to someone beside her. Even Freda was on the table and she had her eyes fixated on him. "You've finally decided to grace us with your presence, Bryan," Maxwell said. Bryan hadn't really heard Grandfather address him personally unless he was trying to speak for Claire so he found it kind of odd that he was being summoned there by Grandfather Maxwell himself. It was a little odd. "I had a lot of things to attend to," Bryan replied offhandedly. One of the uncles scoffed and asked him to address the grandfather properly. "Don't you know he's still the leader of the family? Don't
The whole table went silent as Grandfather Maxwell spoke. He wasn't just bluffing and those who looked him in the eyes could see that. "Yes, you heard me Bryan, I am going to let the cops do their job, we already have a suspect for her kidnap," he replied boldly. Freda smiled in her seat. She finally had something to hold Bryan. She couldn't wait to get her daughter back and get rid of Bryan at the same time. There was nothing that Claire would say to change her mind. CEO or not, she had her wrapped around her pinky and she would do exactly what she wanted - anything. Right then, Tom began to whisper but all that Bryan did to stop him was to cost him an ugly scowl. "You're still serving me, remember?" He threw it at the older man. Tom looked at Maxwell, hoping that he could say anything to tell Bryan that he no longer would have a servant from the Oscar family if he was being arrested by the cops. Maxwell looked at Tom casually, "That's your master, I'm not going to revoke what I
Freda sprang up from her seat and stretched to Bryan, snatching the phone from him before he could even process it. "Give that to me!" She snapped. Bryan looked at her and couldn't struggle with the cell phone with her. "Is she speaking? Someone used her line to call me the other time and it wasn't her, it was.." he began to explain so he wouldn't raise their hopes when it was just another stranger speaking. After the first time, he was getting more and more sure that she had to be in danger. How else could he explain the fact that someone was speaking on her phone? "It's her!" Freda shrieked, "Why did you keep us all waiting? Do you know how pissed off grandfather is? How could you be so selfish, Claire?" Freda snapped at her. Bryan was very shocked to hear her say something like that to her own daughter who had been missing for hours. She would think that she would be more considerate and try to find out where she was but clearly, she was still being venomous. "Get back here rig
It was a few days after Claire had been found. His security men were being tripled as grandfather Maxwell had ordered to make sure that it never happened again. Bryan Shill didn't know what had happened to her in those hours but he decided to let it slide. It was just one of the many layers that his wife had and he swore to uncover. Claire had also been a lot more quiet and she didn't want to see her mother for some reason. Bryan could not help but think it was a good improvement - although experience taught him that it would only last for a few days. "Are you ready to go, sir?" Bryan's new driver, Robson, who was newly hired by the family, called out to Bryan. He nodded and walked into the vehicle. It was a cold and dewy morning and he would rather think of a warm breakfast with his wife or perhaps some cup of coffee with Benjamin, but no, he was out to look for Peterson. Every attempt at finding Ramirez, Jacob, and Nate didn't look fruitful at all. All week had been an intense
Bryan was already at the door before the man could stand up to hurry after him. The last thing he wanted was to let loose his anger, who knew what he would do then? "Supreme master, you are angry over a lie!" Peterson said as he rushed to him by the door. "A lie?" Bryan asked and turned to face him, "A lie? Are you saying that my wife is lying?" He asked again. Peterson realized the gravity of what he'd just said and he blinked, shaking his head, "That's not what I said at all. Look, I never even knew you had a wife until a few weeks ago when we met in front of the hotel, I didn't know what to do with you then," he replied. "You met me and you met Claire, at no point did you think it would be ideal to tell me about what happened?" He asked. Peterson sighed, he sat back down on the couch that was very close to the door. It was a single-seater and he fit right into it without struggle, his legs stuck at the bottom while his whole body was snug in-between. He looked like someone who